Requiem (12 page)

“
Nigh,” she sighed.“Where
are you?”

“
Checking on an old
friend,” I said. “I have to go, Beth. Oh, and…don’t ask Sasha for
help. It will give her the mistaken impression that she’s
needed.”

“
The friend wouldn’t be
Kim, would it?”

“
No. Why?”

“
She’s MIA, too. Again,”
Beth grumbled.

“
You can wing it until I
get back. I have faith in you,” I said, hanging up the
phone.

“
What?” Jared
asked.

“
Beth said Kim hasn’t been
around. She doesn’t know where she is. Kim’s been doing that a lot
lately,” I said with a frown.

Jared squirmed in his seat, and then looked
away.

“
Jared?” I asked in an
accusatory tone. He didn’t look at me. “Do you know anything about
that?”

Jared didn’t meet my eyes for several
moments, and then finally turned to face me. After a long puff of
air, he took a deep breath, and then intertwined his fingers. His
expression was exactly as it as the night he told me the truth.

I looked at him from under my brows. “Is it
bad?”

Jared shook his head. “It’s dangerous. I
won’t lie to you, so please let it go.”

“
We’re talking about Kim,
right? Lanky, goofy Kim?”

“
Let it go,
Nina.”

My knee bounced up and down as I made the
decision, but it had already been made. I was only stalling. Jared
looked away again with a sigh, knowing what would happen next.

He closed his eyes, and with one last effort
he begged. “Don’t….”

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the
edge of my seat, preparing myself for what he would say. Jared had
told me more unbelievable truths in the last two years than even I
could believe, and I had seen most of it with my own eyes.
Regardless, Kim had been keeping something from me—something Jared
knew, and I didn't—I had to ask.

“
Jared?” He stiffened the
second I uttered his name. Although knowing the truth had never
been comforting before, I couldn’t stop myself. “What do you know
about Kim?”

Chapter Six

Witch

“
That’s not actually his
secret to tell,” Kim said, strolling into the waiting
room.

It took me a moment to process that she was
really there, and that I hadn’t conjured her from my wild
imagination.

Kim paused for a moment to acknowledge
Jared. When he nodded in her direction, she took a seat next to me.
She was in a white t-shirt and jeans, sporting black and white
checkered Vans, and smelled of cigarettes. Her big, brown eyes
didn’t falter. She didn’t seem nervous or out of place at all.

“
What on earth are you
doing here, Kim?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I could ask you the same
question.”

“
So go ahead. You seem to
know all the right questions to ask, anyway,” I said,
defiant.

“
Kim’s just here to help,”
Jared said.

“
Help how? How did she
know?” I looked at Kim, then. “How did you know to
come?”

“
How
did
you
know?” she asked. She was purposefully goading me, and I
wanted to reach out, lace my fingers around her long neck and shake
her with the tightest grip I could muster.

“
You’re not funny,” I
snapped.

Kim grinned, clearly enjoying the fact that
she had me in such a tizzy. “No, but you are.”

I stood up, crossing my arms. If she
wouldn’t cooperate, I would corner Jared. I pointed at Kim. “How
did she know Ryan was hurt, Jared? How did she get here?”

“
Plane,” Kim answered
flatly.

“
Shut up!” I
growled.

The corners of Jared’s mouth turned up
slightly, but when he felt my temper rising, he straightened his
expression. “Kim is helping us. Finally,” he said, shooting an
annoyed glance in her direction.

“
Bite me,” Kim said without
emotion, chewing her thumb nail.

His jaws flitted under his skin. “She has
been keeping an eye on our situation…what?” he said, frowning.

I stared at him. “I’m just waiting for you
to make sense.”

Jared returned my expression, and Kim
laughed once. “Welcome to my world. He’s one big riddle book, isn’t
he? He just does it to make himself feel important. He wants you to
drag it out of him.”

Claire walked in, and stopped in her tracks.
“What is the witch doing here?” she said with venom in her
voice.

Kim smiled slightly, but her eyes were
devoid of emotion. “Blessed Be. Heard about what happened. Good
job, G.I. Barbie.”

“
Move aside, Nina,” Claire
said in a frightening, low tone. I was too afraid to move, seeing
that she was poised to pounce.

Tension in the room had soared to a new
level. The waiting room we occupied was in a wing separate from the
main hall, so it would be very easy for Claire to let some of her
pent up aggression go in Kim’s general direction. Kim didn’t seem
phased in the slightest.

Jared stood. “Enough.”

Claire glanced at her
brother. “Does she
have
to be here?”

The longer they spoke as if I knew what was
going on, the angrier I became. “What in the hell is going on?” I
yelled.

“
Sssh!” Claire
hissed.

“
Are you human?” I asked
Kim.

Kim paused in thought. “Some days it doesn’t
feel like it, but yes.”

Jared sat, pulling me to the sofa with him.
Claire sat in the seat next to us, fidgeting with her hijab. Kim
looked at her watch, and then settled into her chair. Suddenly the
air felt very easy, the opposite of just a few moments before, but
it was forced, unnatural.

“
You know those that are
aware of demons attract them.” Kim said this matter-of-factly,
making my reality feel twisted. Jared told me a few specifics about
the Others during the talk we had on our first date—the moment we
affectionately dubbed, ‘The Conversation That Changed Everything’.
Kim was the other side; someone I couldn’t tell. I hadn’t shared
our secrets from that night with anyone, and Kim repeating part of
it verbatim disconcerted me.

“
Stay calm, Nina,” Jared
said, quiet and smooth. He placed his hand on mine. “They feed on
aggression and fear.”

Kim’s body language was casual, but
deliberately so. “What we’re talking about is going to bring them
here, Nigh. The more upset you are, the more access they will have
to this situation, so just take it all in. Don’t try to analyze it,
just listen and accept.”

“
Listen and accept,” I
said, taking a deep breath. I looked to Jared, who offered a small,
comforting grin. I returned my attention to Kim. “Okay. Let’s hear
it.”

Kim’s mouth turned up infinitesimally. “When
I was sixteen I was possessed by a demon.”

It was hard to concentrate. Months of
perfecting the art of keeping my emotions under control was the
only advantage I had, and I was determined to keep my cool. “You’re
kidding.”

Kim continued, “I’m going to make this short
if you don’t mind.”

I nodded and Kim rolled her eyes. “The story
bores me, so to get to the point, the Pollocks, my family, descend
from Crusade Knights. Those Crusade Knights used the Holy Sepulchre
as an end point of their pilgrimages…you okay?” Kim asked,
pausing.

“
Yeah,” I said casually.
“Because I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” I
yelled.

Jared held my hands in my lap, and lowered
his chin, looking directly into my eyes. “You need to stay calm.
It’s important.”

I looked back to Kim. “Sorry.”

Kim dismissed my apology. “Whatever. You
remember learning about the Crusades, Nigh. English knights…Robin
Hood…King Richard?” I nodded. “It has nothing to do with that.”

I sighed, and Jared jerked his head to the
side in frustration. “You’re not helping.”

Kim laughed once and looked down. “I'm
sorry. I just can't describe to you how much I hate telling this
story.”

“
Try,” Jared
seethed.

Kim looked to me. “Templar Knights took
their crusades to a very holy place in Jerusalem. It’s called the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was once the temple of Aphrodite.
Christians refer to it as Golgotha…the place where Christ was
crucified.

“
The First Crusade was envisioned as an armed pilgrimage, and
no crusader could consider his journey complete unless he had
prayed as a pilgrim at the Holy Sepulchre. This is where it gets a
little hairy. During my great-great times infinity grandfather’s
pilgrimage, he came upon something under the basilica of the Holy
Sepulchre. It was a book. A Bible.”

“
So you’re Bible savers?” I
looked at Jared in disbelief. “Cool? I guess?”

“
We’re not talking about
the Holy Bible, here, Nigh,” Kim said. “You’ve seen it.”

“
Shax’s bible?” I
asked.

Kim nodded. “It was kept safely hidden away
in the cistern under the basilica, which is where it was rumored
that the mother of Hadrian found the true cross and the tomb of
Christ.”

“
Isn’t that pretty much
sacrilegious? The Bible of Hell being kept under what was thought
to be the tomb of Jesus Christ?” I said.

Kim rubbed her temples. I had clearly asked
a question she’d answered a thousand times. “The Holy presence
there kept Shax and his legions from finding it. My grandfather
didn’t know that. He removed the book, and after learning of its
importance, he vowed to keep it safe. That vow, and the book, has
cursed our family for generations.”

“
Curses seem to be the
popular thing around here,” I grumbled.

Kim glanced at Jared.

“
I’m sorry,” I said,
laughing without humor, “this is all a little far-fetched. Even for
me, and I’ve seen Shax.”

The room grew cold, and Jared and Claire
immediately extended their necks, looking to the ceiling. Jared
pulled me closer to him, and Claire sat on the other side of me,
lightly touching my knee.

The lights flickered, and even with Jared’s
and Claire’s warm bodies on each side of me, I shook from the cold.
The dim fluorescent lights created an eerie glow to the air we
exhaled, now warmer than the air in the room.

“
What’s happening?” I
whispered.

“
For the fiftieth time,
Nina, stay calm,” Claire said, her voice even. “Nothing will happen
to you while we’re here. This is just what happens when there’s a
higher concentration of them than normal.”

“
Higher concentration?” I
asked.

Kim looked above her. “Oh there’s probably
an army or two around...or one really strong one.”

I shivered. “Which is worse?”

“
One,” Claire whispered,
her eyes unfocused. She was relying on her senses, creating a
thoughtful, confused expression on her face.

Kim returned her attention to me. Her
demeanor was baffling. She had always been relaxed, and at times
aloof, but it was hard to believe she could remain that way with so
many Others around. Every part of me wanted to run screaming down
the hall.

“
Anyone who’s made the trip
to return the book to the Sulpulchre never came back. We thought
Jack and Gabe stealing the book from my uncle was the best thing
that could have happened to our family, until Shax held us
personally responsible. That’s when I got sick…or that’s what we
thought it was.”

Even with the drop in temperature and the
knowledge that a million demons might have been hovering over us, I
sat hunched over, with my chin resting on my fist, suddenly
unimpressed. “You were possessed. Like priests and green pea soup
possessed? C’mon, Kim.”

“
I don’t remember most of
it. I just know that my father spared no expense to bring in the
best of the best, and when Father Gary and Father Carmine were
finished...I was different.”

Jared squeezed my hand. “When humans are
overtaken in that way, they are often left weak for the rest of
their lives. Kim kept something with her when Father Carmine
finally extracted the demons. And they wouldn’t have left behind
power voluntarily. She took it from them, and because of that, they
fear her.”

“
What kind of power?” I
asked.

“
The all-knowing,
understanding dead languages blah, blah, blah. I also know when
they move, when they approach, when they leave, and why they’re
doing it. And I think I can take their power at will, but none of
them have gotten close enough for me to try.”

“
So Kim is an asset,”
Claire said, sullen. “She affects them in ways no one
understands.”

“
I…you….” A million
questions swirled in my head, but the most upsetting revelation was
that nothing was separate, now. My normal life just had a head-on
collision with my life with Jared.

The air around me felt thick and full of
static. An end table next to one of the chairs shook for a moment,
and then slid across the floor a few inches.

“
What just happened?” I
said.

The table vibrated again, and then shot to
the wall, the legs squealing as they grated across the tile.

“
Sweetheart,” Jared
warned.

My fingers worked in small circles against
my temple. “Okay,” I whispered. I worked to release any negativity
that the demons could use to fuel their power. “What now?”